It's usually good form to show us your own attempt unless you have a good reason why you need the translation and can't try it yourself. But I'll give you this one.

How about "vir quī numquam poterō esse"? Literally, "the man I will never be able to be". Though in context maybe a different form of "posse" ("can") would be more appropriate. What's the context here?

Thankyou both for your responses, I have no knowledge of Latin so could not begin to attempt a translation. By way of context, my father passed away recently and I am considering getting a tattoo with these words.

Well, I think "quem" not "qui" and "vir quem nunquam potero esse" means literally what Furrykef said "The man whom never will I be able to be."And "Vir quem esse nunquam mihi licitum est" literally means "The man whom to be never to me is to be permitted" where "nunquam mihi licitum est" + infinitive is often translated as "never could I"

adrianus wrote:Well, I think "quem" not "qui" and "vir quem nunquam potero esse" means literally what Furrykef said "The man whom never will I be able to be."

I don't understand why you want to use "quem" instead of "quī" here. In English we say "I could never be him", but in Latin, a nominative subject takes a nominative complement, doesn't it? "Ego" -- the implied subject of "poterō" -- is nominative, so, by this logic at least, the relative pronoun should be nominative as well. Or does actual Latin usage not reflect this?

But I at least wouldn't be willing to have inked into myself forever something in a tongue I didn't know composed by contrary strangers to whom it's not native, especially when the sentiment is so well and briefly stated in English. I would have it done in the language my father and I best understood.

Last edited by Craig_Thomas on Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

furrykef's Vir qui numquam potero esse "The man that I will never be able to be" expresses the idea best I think. This is a very idiomatic phrase, and Latin probably had a set phrase for this idea, but I'm not aware of it. I think the 'literal' translation into Latin works just fine, especially since no one walking around is a native speaker anyway. Anyone with some knowledge of Latin would read it and understand it immediately.